Finance Specialist

Part 1: Role Purpose 

Street Child is seeking a Finance specialist to lead its finance and operation department and support in building capacity of partners for the Multi Year Resilience Programme in Pakistan. This programme has the ambitious aim of assuring that the most vulnerable girls and boys of school-going age have uninterrupted access to safe, protective, and quality learning.  

The Finance Specialist will be responsible for providing technical support and capacity building to strengthen our partner’s finance capacity and managing the organization's financial operations, including accounting and financial management, risk management, compliance, and audit. The role requires strong knowledge of accounting principles and experience with financial management in the development sector. The Finance Specialist will work closely with the Asia Finance Director, program teams, and local partners to ensure compliance with the organizational policies, donor requirements, local laws, and regulations.

Part 2: Key Responsibilities  

CAPACITY BUILDING AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT [50%]

• Lead the finance elements of partner capacity assessments, and developing and executing partner capacity building action plans based on these assessments.
• Design, develop and deliver training to project personnel and partner organizations to support alignment and adherence to donor requirements [including in financial management, record keeping and reporting].
• Support and strengthen partner organization on implementation of financial policies and procedures through regular, robust training, mentoring and coaching; conducting spot checks and audits; and providing targeted, tailored support to address audit recommendations.
• Review of partner agreements, contracts, and conditions to assure compliance with donor and organizational rules and requirements;
• Review and provide feedback on partner financial reports
• Support local partners in developing budgets for new funding opportunities in agreement with line manager. 

FINANCE MANAGEMENT [35%] 

• Prepare annual budgets with regular reforecasts for programmes and operations in coordination with the line manager;
• Prepare programme proposal budgets after analysis of cost categories, costing trends, agreeing competitive costs and appropriate contributions;
• Manage and regularly monitor programme expenditure, with regular, budget versus actual analysis;
• Contextualize the global finance policy to design and deliver financial checks and controls relevant to the country context; 
• Ensure monthly fund requisitions, monthly financial reports, and donor financial reports are prepared and submitted timely as per global policies and procedures and as per the donor requirements and regulations;
• Prepare and submit  six-monthly financial report to the Ministry of Interior.
• Provide oversight and support for programme operations, ensuring efficient allocation of restricted and unrestricted funds [optimizing country cost structures and cost recoveries], effective analysis of expenditure and excellent value for money;
• Be responsible for inventory management, fixed asset management, procurement and day-to-day administration of the organization;
• Lead the appointment, management and monitoring of both internal and external audit of the organization;
• Respond to recommendations arising from audits and ensure compliance with the agreed recommendations with regular follow-up with the country team.
• Maintain an accurate and robust risk register and conduct financial due diligence, prepare reports and provide recommendations as required;
• Coordinate and collaborate with the Country Representative and Asia Finance Director to identify, investigate and respond to incidents of fraud or financial mismanagement in line with organizational policies and procedures, and all other appropriate donor and legal requirements. 

ACCOUNTING [15%]

• Ensure that books of accounts are properly maintained in the cloud-based accounting system and are aligned with the accounting policies and procedures as outlined in the organizational finance manual.
• Ensure effective controls as well as effectiveness in banking and cash protocols. Ensure that these arrangements are safe and secure in the country context.
• Ensure that bank and cash are reconciled on a regular basis and that proper segregation of duties are put in place.
• Ensure that physical cash count takes place on a regular basis and such procedures are well documented and any discrepancies are timely reported to the line manager.
• Ensure that all invoices and receipts are properly recorded in the system, allocated to appropriate project, donor and cost centers, payments are duly authorized as per the authority delegation matrix, and are regularly reconciled with Head Office books.

OTHER 

• Undertake any other reasonable duties as directed by the Country Representative or Asia Finance Director; and
• Undertake an active role as a member of the Management Team.